Anna Marie Sorenson's Secret Affair (2 page)

You might even become homeless at old age, because your pension will have run out, and you’ll go from shelter to shelter, sleeping under the bridge or in a cardboard box between garbage canisters.”

Anna Marie sipped her cosmopolitan, her expression almost serenely studious, as if she were giving serious weight to Pepper’s words. Then she turned and looked at the curtains. “The red in the window shades is surprising for the overall color scheme you have here, but somehow, it works.”

“I’m serious, Anna,” Pepper said. “Do you plan to develop into a spinster in your old age?”

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“You know, it is true that becoming a spinster until recently was considered a serious condition, such as the dropsy.”

“Oh, you’re hopeless, Anna. It’s no wonder I worry about you. You have no goals, no

path. Aren’t you worried about your future? I am. That’s why you need to start thinking about settling down. A family gives you roots, a purpose in life.”

Anna Marie’s eyebrows formed into a faint mutinous line. “I have plans. I have goals,” she muttered.

“What, to get another degree? And in library science, of all things. I can understand if you wanted to get it in something useful, like in accounting or computers. But what can you do with a doctoral degree in library science?”

“I would be in a better position to get a job at the Library of Congress.”

“And that’s another thing. Why there? What’s wrong with the library that you’re working in now?”

Pepper made it sound as if one of the world’s greatest libraries was as common and

breath in scope as the local school library. But Anna Marie didn’t say anything. It had always been her lifelong dream to work in the Library of Congress, ever since she was a little girl, reading about it in her civic textbook. She knew her family did not understand her desire and her wish to always be among so much knowledge.

They had laughed at her when she had told them she wanted to be a librarian when she was deciding on college. They had always considered books to be only for when a person had nothing else to do. Reading was never considered a priority above all the other more important activities, such as pursuing a worthy career, raising kids, establishing a home, doing charity work, visiting friends and relatives, playing sports, traveling, hiking, sailing, etc. When a person picked up a book, the world stopped. And one of the worst things to experience in an overly active life was for the world to come to a standstill. Only when a person was desperate, because he or she ran out of activities, did they pick up a book as a last resort. But one had to be in sheer dire straits to do that.

Not for Anna Marie. From the first moment she picked up a book, they had given her

everything that real life seemed to always lack; passion, knowledge, love, adventure, travel, meeting strange and fascinating people, history, philosophy, humor. Everything.

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Some might have said that it was unfortunate for her that she was born in a family of extroverts whose whole meaning of life was being active every minute of the day. Even on holidays. They felt that life was not worth living unless one’s to do list had at least twenty things to accomplish for that day. Their mother worked as a corporate lawyer while raising her family, and their father, also a lawyer, practiced family law. Their first born, Pepper, had stepped right into their busy, ambitious life.

If Anna Marie and Pepper were two sisters who could not be more different in their

personalities, they were also almost diametrically different in their appearances, each sister’s appearance befitting her personality. Pepper had inherited her mother’s classic beauty and blonde looks, with blue eyes and smooth, rose-petal skin. She had also inherited her statuesque height and athletic physique from both parents. Just on sight, she was stunning, drawing every male eye. On the field, on the court, up on stage, she was breathtaking to watch in her speed, agility, and grace. She often reminded Anna Marie of a Valkyrie, magnificent in her blond beauty, a sword in one hand, a shield in the other, facing the challenges of life with heroic and ruthless determination, unswerving in her purpose, unyielding in her goal.

Anna Marie’s looks, on the other hand, had none of her sister’s dazzling beauty or

family’s height, just as she hadn’t inherited their athletic build, their towering ambition, or their forceful nature. Her face was pleasant if a little plain, her hair dark brown instead of the pale gold of her mother and sister, but at least it was thick, lustrous and fell around her head in loose, glossy waves. She was quite short with a delicate build with long, slender arms and legs.

Surprisingly, though, for her petite size, she had full, round breasts that were size D-cup with large coral-pink areoles and large nipples. It was the only thing that Pepper was ever jealous of her sister, often bemoaning her own breast size that could only fill A-cups. But to Anna Marie, who disliked intensely drawing any attention to herself, her breasts were an embarrassment, and made her self-conscious. She cringed whenever she caught men eyeing them. She at times wondered what the gene-god had been thinking on the day that they had been putting her together. In her whimsical imagination, she pictured the god being distracted and accidentally placing the wrong gene for the breasts in her cell, a gene that had been meant for another woman, and Anna Marie was supposed to have been given breasts that were more sedate in size and far less flamboyant.

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Although she inherited none of her sister’s looks and talents, Anna Marie did not

complain. What could she do about it, she thought with her usual practical view of life. Her face may be plain and non-descript with a small narrow face, pale skin, a nose that she thought was a bit too large for her face, and sleet-gray eyes that tended to be a bit too large. The only feature that might be called arresting was her mouth that was shaped perfectly into a Cupid’s bow with sensuously full lower lip.

All in all, she thought her less than stunning looks suited her just fine. Just as Pepper’s tall, strong body and magnificent beauty suited her aggressive, forceful nature and her pension for the spotlight, Anna Marie’s more sedate and ordinary appearance suited her quiet, unassuming nature and her simple wish to live her life in books.

Her general satisfaction with her lot in life was something she could never get across to her family. She knew that her parents and Pepper often pitied her for what they believed was life shortchanging her, and that she went around perpetually harboring a secret jealousy of her sister.

She had long ago realized that it was useless to try and disabuse them of their beliefs. Early on, they had developed a certain image of her, without ever really taking a hard look at her, or bothering to talk to her to get an idea of her thoughts. Instead, they maintained in their minds the image of her that they were comfortable with. They were too inured in the idea that life only had one purpose and one purpose only, and that was to conquer it, to overcome its obstacles, to fight to surpass their human limitations to achieve personal and professional success. Anna Marie’s family never really understood that in her own way, she had goals and ambition and that in her own quiet way, she worked towards them.

For her parents and sister success was inevitable. Her parents had successful law

practices, were active in their community, and had raised a family. Pepper had been awarded one success after another from the time she entered the progressive pre-school that her parents had enrolled her and Anna Marie in. After high school, she decided that she wanted to spend her life being a celebrated chef and own a chain of restaurants. Twelve years later, Pepper had obtained her goals. She was a popular chef with her own television show and was about to open a third restaurant in Portland, Oregon, the other two being in San Francisco and Los Angeles.

Far from being jealous of her sister, Anna Marie was just as proud of her as their parents were. Rarely envious of Pepper, she instead admired her immensely and was happy for her. Just Secret Affair 11

like everyone, she was dazzled by her sisters beauty, her talent, her unflagging drive and energy, and her self-assurance that allowed no failure in life but only success.

She certainly appreciated her sister’s culinary talent, because it allowed her to dine on very fine food and wine, which would not have been possible on her limited income as a public servant.

Being able to eat like a king as often as she did was one reason why Anna Marie was

willing put up with her sister’s overbearing ways. Such as right now, she thought, as she sniffed with appreciation at the aroma that was wafting in Pepper’s kitchen. Yes, there was definite advantage to having a sibling who was a talented chef, she thought, as she watched her sister flip the filet mignons in their marinating juice and then slip the pan back into the refrigerator.

“Mom’s worried about you, you know,” Pepper said. “So’s Dad.”

Rather than counter that with a flip remark, Anna Marie didn’t say anything but instead sipped her drink. It was something that her sister said to her whenever she was over for dinner.

She had come to think of it as a ritual, part of the routine between siblings whenever they got together.

“Cam’s office is having a party next weekend. Why don’t you come along? There’ll

surely be some guy there who you might like,” Pepper suggested.

Anna Marie barely kept herself from rolling her eyes. She supposed it was a common

curse for all single adults to be constantly thrown at them unwanted suitors by their happily and safely married siblings. “I’ll think about it.”

In her domineering way, Pepper took that as an ascent. “Good. Then you and I can go

shopping for a dress. That’s another thing you need help on.” She looked at her sister’s striped dress shirt and black wool slacks with barely concealed distaste.

No way was she going to be put through the wringer while on a shopping trip with her sister, Anna Marie thought with grim determination. She would never go through that torture again in whatever time she had left on earth. Once she had her sister in her clutches, Pepper would bully, yell, sharply criticize, lecture her throughout the course while putting her through the grueling pace of putting on one outfit after another, shuttling her from one store to another.

And it wouldn’t stop at the clothes, either. Pepper would take the opportunity to point out her sister’s other faults besides her choice of clothes, such as Anna Marie’s figure which had too much flab from no exercise and a very inactive life, her dark, thick hair with its uncontrollable Secret Affair 12

waves and in desperate need of cutting and styling, and her face that was crying out for a good facial and some expert tutoring on makeup and coloring.

Pepper refilled her glass with more cosmopolitan. “Honey, I don’t know why you insist on living in this rudderless way that you do.” She laid a hand on Anna Marie’s arm. “Is it because you’re not over him, yet?”

Anna Marie frowned, puzzled. “Who?”

“Cam. You’re still not over Cam, are you?”

“Cam? That was nearly twelve years ago.”

Pepper shrugged. “I know, but you were pretty serious about him. And why wouldn’t you be? He was a very good catch with his rich parents, Yale educated, good-looking, and well spoken. I know I must have broken your heart when I pinched him from you.”

Anna Marie gritted her teeth at the pitying look that her sister was giving her. “I wasn’t broken hearted, and even if I were, I think I would have gotten over it by now.”

“Darling, there’s no need for you to go on pretending that it meant nothing to you. I know how painful it must have been for you, losing a man that you loved, and to your own sister, at that. Especially when Cam wasn’t the only one.”

Anna Marie’s gray eyes widened. “You mean to say that I had more than one boyfriend

that you stole from me? Funny, I don’t seem to recall.”

Pepper slid her hand up Anna Marie’s arm and gave it a kindly squeeze. “We never really talked about it, did we? Oh, I’m sorry, honey. I should have talked to you years ago, let you express all that anger that you must have been harboring against me all these years. Instead, you’ve kept it all inside you, haven’t you, letting it fester like a nasty boil, but not letting it bubble out of the skin so that all that puss remains locked in until it turns thick and sour.”

“I hope that’s not a recipe you’re working on,” Anna Marie muttered and took refuge in her cosmopolitan.

Since her sister was determined to play the superior but sympathetic sibling who decided to be remorseful for pinching her love interest, Anna Marie decided that it would be a waste of effort and time to try and convince Pepper that Cameron Trenton had not meant a great deal to her by the time Pepper had got her hooks into him. For some unfathomable reason, it was important to Pepper to think that she had been a femme fatale wrecking havoc in her hapless sister’s practically non-existent love life.

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The actual truth was that Anna Marie could barely remember dating Cameron twelve or

so years ago. She remembered that she thought him a very nice man, quite well mannered on a date, very good-looking, and cultured and informed enough to carry on an intelligent conversation. They had few pleasant dates that had ended without any smoldering looks or kisses. Then, after the third date, she somehow introduced him to her sister. Anna Marie couldn’t really remember the exact day or the place where she introduced the two, but she remembered at one point she had realized that Pepper had, as the old fashioned term would have put it, set her cap for Cameron. What she didn’t remember was ever feeling any hurt or anger against Pepper for her encroachment.

Anna Marie, though, remembered feeling surprised that her sister would go for a guy like Cameron. He had not been her usual run of men, who were usually as flamboyant, aggressive, and competitive as she. Instead, Cameron was quiet, gentle, low-key, soft-spoken, and thoughtful. If he hadn’t been rich, their parents would have objected, because he hadn’t Pepper’s ambition and drive. However, Cameron was no slouch, having obtained a law degree from Yale and after he passed his bar exam, the County of Sonoma hired him as the Assistant District Attorney. Three years later, he was the District Attorney. Being rich already, he saw no need to open his own law practice, and was satisfied with his county job and its salary, which was paltry when compared to the lucrative money in private practice.